Man asked for priest’s help over extortion, court told

A Belfast man who was targeted in a republican extortion plot has told a court he sought help from former Ardoyne priest Fr Aidan Troy, the IRSP, Community Restorative Justice and also from the police because he was “terrified” he was going to be shot dead by the blackmailers.

A Belfast man who was targeted in a republican extortion plot has told a court he sought help from former Ardoyne priest Fr Aidan Troy, the IRSP, Community Restorative Justice and also from the police because he was “terrified” he was going to be shot dead by the blackmailers.

The man, identified at Belfast Crown Court only as Witness A, gave his evidence against 34-year-old shopkeeper John Gerard Stitt from Laburnum Park, Dunmurry, from behind screens.